Most online guides to claiming UIF still show uFiling screenshots. Those screens are history for workers. Since 1 April 2025 the UIF has taken employee benefit claims on its own platform, UIF Online, and uFiling closed its employee claims side on 20 May 2026. This page follows a claim through UIF Online from login to the moment it is submitted.
One caution before the walkthrough. No click-by-click manual for UIF Online has come from the department so far, and the portal (version 3.03 in October 2026) is still being updated. The stages below are described by what each part of the process asks of you, not by exact labels, so expect the wording on your screen to differ slightly.
Get these ready before you log in
- A UIF Online account. Registration asks for a UIF reference number or CK number; our UIF Online registration guide covers setting it up.
- Clear scans or photos of your ID or passport, your UI-19 (the employer’s declaration) with the salary schedule, and the UI-2.8 banking authorisation.
- Benefit-specific papers: a service letter for unemployment; UI-2.7 for illness, maternity and adoption; the medical practitioner’s section of UI-2.2 or UI-2.3; birth certificate or adoption order where relevant.
- For unemployment claims, proof that you have registered as a work-seeker.
Stage 1: sign in and open a new application
Log in from the portal’s home page. If the password is refused or the account is locked, sort that out first using our UIF Online login page, because a half-finished session can time out and lose your entries. Once inside, choose the option to apply for benefits (the home page calls this “Claim UIF”) and select the benefit type. Take care here: illness and maternity claims use different forms and documents, and choosing the wrong one means starting again.
Stage 2: your details, your job and your bank
Expect to confirm personal details, contact numbers, the employer you are claiming against and the dates and reason your employment ended. Names, ID number and dates should match your ID document and the employer’s UI-19 exactly, because the assessor compares them. Unemployment applications also ask whether the termination was a constructive dismissal confirmed by the CCMA. The bank account you type in has to be the same one your UI-2.8 authorises.
Stage 3: uploading the supporting papers
Upload each document where the portal asks for it, one file per document where possible. Check every image before attaching it: all four corners of the page visible, no glare across stamps or signatures, and text sharp enough to read when zoomed. If your former employer has not given you a UI-19 yet, ask in writing; employers must send the Commissioner the previous month’s information before the 7th of each month, so a missing declaration is the employer’s job to fix.
Stage 4: review, submit and keep proof
Read the summary page slowly before you submit. Once the claim is in, record the date and any reference number the portal shows, and take a screenshot. UIF Online offers real-time tracking, so log back in after a few days to see whether the claim has moved to assessment. Approval is only the start: instalments depend on regular confirmations, covered in our guide to signing online for each UIF payment.
Started a claim on uFiling before the switch? The department says those applications are being migrated and none were lost. If yours does not show up on UIF Online, phone 0800 030 007. For the bigger picture of which benefit to choose and the deadlines, read how to apply for UIF.